As Anne’s birthday drew close, her friends prepared a soca party. Anne loves the sound of Caribbean soca music played on steel pans and West Africa’s spicy jollof rice. Hence, her friends planned to celebrate her special day with a fusion of sounds and traditional dishes from Caribbean and African countries — a representation of their diverse yet comparable cultures. Anne was in for a real surprise.

Yolanda T. Marshall is an award-winning Guyanese-born Canadian author of diverse, inclusive, festive children's literature. She ventured into the world of publishing in 2008. Yolanda is currently a traditionally published and agented author of seventeen books, including, A Piece of Black Cake for Santa, Miles Away in The Caribbean, Sweet Sorrel Stand, C is for Carnival, Hot Cross Buns For Everyone and one of CBC's best Canadian picture books of 2020 and TD’s Top Recommended Reads for 2023 - My Soca Birthday Party: with Jollof Rice and Steel Pans. Yolanda is also a columnist/editor for Canada's Caribbean Camera printed newspaper ‘Lit Corner’ where she promotes the books of other marginalized, Canadian authors. She has read for over 25,000 students annually, for the last few years in Canada and was recently invited by a New York school board into their classrooms. Yolanda appeared in numerous Television interviews, magazines and news articles and is a recipient of the Caribbean media Loop Awards: Author of the Year 2022, CIBWE Top 100 Black Women to Watch 2017, one of Canada’s 100 Accomplished Black Women in 2022 and the My People Award: Outstanding Contributions to Canadian Literature in 2023. She is a Membership Chair on the CANSCAIP Board (Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers), a professional member of The Writer's Union of Canada and a PAL member of the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Wr

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As a child, Subi drew pictures all the time. In every room of the house- sometimes on the walls. His mother still tells everyone “… he knew how to draw before he could properly hold a pencil,” and throughout his life in South Africa, Subi has been known for drawing funny pictures and comics, which he did throughout high school and university. After studying Architecture he realised his passion was in illustration and became a freelancer, working with self-publishing authors worldwide while studying graphic design at the Academy of Digital Arts in Cape Town. In 2020, Subi was awarded a Mo Siewcharran Publisher’s Prize for Illustration. Subi is currently based in Cape Town, South Africa, producing picture books, comics and graphic novels.

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• Joint winner, One of CBC's best Canadian Picture Books